Do I ship it?

Games › Wargame › Wargame + Incremental

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Incremental Wargame?

Wargame + Incremental

Of 27 developers who shipped an Incremental Wargame in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 28 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 16 developers shipped in the last year and 28 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 185% on the market, 28 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Wargame + Incremental
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 27
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $210 → $300 → $60 → $897 → $359 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Wargame + Incremental: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 27
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $1.4k (exactly $1,438)
Top 5% $12k (exactly $12,425)
Developers, 2 yr 27
Released games 57
Announced 28
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 185% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Wargame
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Incremental
effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Wargame, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Simulation, Idler
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 70% positive over 685 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $360, 1 in 4 over $1.4k, 1 in 20 over $12k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 28 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Wargame with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Inventory ManagementFair21 devs · median $4.6k · 20 announced
  2. + Local MultiplayerFair28 devs · median $3.0k · 28 announced
  3. + NavalFair37 devs · median $2.4k · 37 announced
  4. + TabletopFair50 devs · median $1.1k · 57 announced
  5. + LogicFair20 devs · median $599 · 26 announced
  6. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds11 devs · median $37k · 24 announced
  7. + Real-TimePoor odds13 devs · median $37k · 17 announced
  8. + Co-opPoor odds43 devs · median $21k · 84 announced
  9. + StealthPoor odds10 devs · median $21k · 39 announced
  10. + DiplomacyPoor odds34 devs · median $17k · 59 announced
  11. + Colony SimPoor odds24 devs · median $16k · 55 announced
  12. + SandboxPoor odds82 devs · median $14k · 142 announced

All 147 pairs on the Wargame page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Age of Clicks 2026 · EA · $184k J15 Jet Fighter VR (歼15舰载机) 2018 · EA · $13k Hydra Heli 2025 · $12k Middle Age Conquest 2021 · $8.0k Hydra Heli 2 2026 · $6.3k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Age of Clicks · EA $12.99 472 65% 14k $184k (exactly $183,938) David Ius
J15 Jet Fighter VR (歼15舰载机) · EA older $9.99 44 47% 1.3k $13k (exactly $13,187) Magicvalley Studio
Hydra Heli $4.99 83 91% 2.5k $12k (exactly $12,425) Ideas Per Second
Middle Age Conquest older $6.99 38 76% 1.1k $8.0k (exactly $7,969) Musa GUNGOR
Hydra Heli 2 $6.99 30 80% 900 $6.3k (exactly $6,291) Ideas Per Second
Lord of the Click 4 older $7.99 19 89% 570 $4.6k (exactly $4,554) HugePixel
Reposition Defense $7.99 16 68% 480 $3.8k (exactly $3,835) HugePixel
Hidden Heir $4.99 21 66% 630 $3.1k (exactly $3,144) AYS CODE YAZILIM
Air defenders older $9.99 10 100% 300 $3.0k (exactly $2,997) Serhii Khramov, Dmytro Pohrebnyi, Illia… (Serhii Khramov, Dmytro Pohrebnyi, Illia Ustenko)
公考刷题模拟器-我要上岸 $3.99 18 61% 540 $2.2k (exactly $2,155) DoubleGame
Stellar Industrialist $2.99 18 88% 540 $1.6k (exactly $1,615) PcZ Games
Cannon Clicker $5.99 8 75% 240 $1.4k (exactly $1,438) Ritual Interactive
Space War Economy Idle $4.99 9 66% 270 $1.3k (exactly $1,347) Chasm Studios
To the Stars Idle $2.99 10 80% 300 $897 (exactly $897) Denys Osypenko

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.